Brooks Atkinson said the American theater started with Eugene O’Neill — but the mayor of New London asked what did he ever do for New London except write a couple of books. ATCA spent July 13-18 finding out what at this years’ annual conference. Following are some quick responses to our...
It’s hard to decide just which aspect of the ATCA conference was the highlight. Certainly being at the O’Neill Theatre Center was a revelation, with the energy and constantly changing vibes of new plays, actors and playwrights. The panels were stimulating and informative. I was especially...
Barbara Bannon (left) presents the Primus Prize plaque to playwright Jamie Pachino. At the ATCA/O’Neill conference “All Campus” panel on “The Theater Looks at Critics,” July 17, featuring an actor, director, designer, non-critic journalist, two producers and two playwrights (see below * for list; click here for a...
The rewards of this year’s ATCA convention based around the activities at the O’Neill Center are almost too numerous to name. Aside from the trying accommodations at the Radisson Hotel in New London, I and my wife LucyAnn, who teaches in the theater department at...
The debate about the criteria for ATCA membersip that flared (by design) at ATCA/O’Neill is now going forward on Wendy Rosenfield’s Drama Queen blog. It’s her July 21 entry — take a look and click on Comments. Leonard Jacobs also comments on his Clyde Fitch Report, although so far mainly (negatively) about...
The laundry is done; now the notebook gets unpacked. I filled the better part of a good-sized Moleskine over five days at the ATCA conference—notes I intend to turn into a widely read, much-talked-about feature this fall in Dramatics magazine, where I’m fortunate enough to have a full-time...
Friday morning we visited the Monte Cristo cottage where O’Neill spent his boyhood summers. Since my principal frame of reference is Long Day’s Journey into Night, I was pleasantly surprised by the house. I expected it to be dark and claustrophobic, but the rooms on the first...
Jay Handelman (left), Wendy Rosenfield, Goodspeed’s Dan McMahon and Barbara Gross encounter Domina’s bust from “Forum.” I review mostly dramas. As some of my ATCA colleagues know, I’ve Jay Handelman (left), Wendy Rosenfield, Goodspeed’s Dan McMahon and Barbara Gross encounter Domina’s bust from “Forum.”never been a...
Saturday — This was the perfect time for the ATCA crowd to visit the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center for a few days. The O’Neill had just won the Tony Award for Regional Theater, an award it certainly deserves for its years of resolute, proactive, and...
Monday morning — The heavens opened today, as if in copious regret that the critics had left New London. Or gratitude, perhaps. It rained as we arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday, then gradually cleared to the glories of the last few days, so it all...